WETRIED TRANSLATIONS
Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer?
[Translator – Aren]
◈ Chapter 343 I Shall Convey it to God (1)
"Why did you come back here? It’s not like forming a new party would be impossible for you.”
As I rode along, gently coaxing Frederick to move forward, Meister casually slid over to me. I’d wondered why he had suddenly fallen back a moment ago, but apparently he had done it so he could come over here.
"They’d be strangers, though.”
"Wouldn’t that actually be better for you?”
"If there’s something to gain, there’s always something to lose.”
At my answer, Meister gave me a pitying look. Daniel, who was riding beside me in the formation, still looked confused, though. He hadn’t joined us because he wanted to take part in this conversation. He had only happened to overhear because he was right next to me, which probably made it even harder to follow what we were talking about.
"...What kind of disadvantage would that hold for you, Sir?
In the end, unable to suppress his curiosity, he cut in.
"They don’t know my identity or my circumstances.”
"...What?"
He was so good at interpreting Meister’s words that I’d just assumed he had mastered the art of filling in missing context to understand the situation as well, but apparently not.
Even after my explanation, Daniel’s eyes remained ambiguous.
"If I ever start acting in a way that doesn’t fit the Adventurer they expect, they’ll inevitably start asking questions.”
I explained it one more time for his sake. Only then did Daniel nod.
"If that’s the issue, then yes, I can see why you would have to be cautious.”
"If they have any sense, they’ll swallow those questions and never let them leave their mouths. And even if word spreads, it’s not like it would make your situation any worse.”
"My misfortune is difficult and painful, but I’m not ashamed of it.”
"...Ah, right.”
"......?"
"...No matter the depth or weight of that misfortune, I've done my best. I just don’t want people who know nothing about me or the path I’ve walked to presume they have the right to pity me.”
"Ah."
I didn’t mind someone sympathizing with my grief or grieving with me. But I absolutely hate the thought of my life becoming someone else’s topic of conversation. Going through that once when my leg got wrecked was more than enough.
"Besides, while the Temple has acknowledged me, that only applies to Munmund. I doubt there’s anyone among adventurers hired for money who carries enough authority to vouch for my identity.”
"...Yeah, that’s true. And the north is notoriously exclusive and isolated. Even with the Grand Temple’s guarantee, it would likely be very difficult for you to move around freely in that place.”
Right. There was that as well.
I remembered what the Young Lord had said when I told him my plans to head north.
『The north will be harsher than any other place you’ve ever visited before. It’s a land where people become Demons themselves in order to fight Demons.』
The way he gave me that warning was incredibly calm, but there had been some real concern behind it.
"Actually, there's something I wanted to ask about that.”
"What is it?”
"What?"
"Is the north really that dangerous?”
I didn’t have much of an image of the north. The fiercest of the fronts, the one closest to the Demon King’s Castle, and a battlefield held by two Great Demons.
With these descriptions in mind, I understood that it was the most dangerous place. Intellectually that is.
But when I thought back to the Young Lord’s reaction and the expressions I’d seen on a few other people, it felt as though the north possessed something beyond all that I knew. That was what I found strange.
Was the north really that dangerous?
"...First of all, I’ve never actually been to the north myself, so I can’t give you any proper advice. But a priest who was transferred from the northern Temple to this branch once told me that the north is…a rather harsh place.”
"Harsh, my ass. It's just a land full of lunatics.”
"...You say that like you’ve been there.”
"I lived there when I was a kid.”
Meister stopped talking and reached into his clothes. What came out of his breast pocket was a cigarette.
"Where do you even keep getting those cigarettes?”
"This is my last one anyway.”
He straightened out the battered cigarette as best he could, then held it slightly toward me. Obviously, he wasn’t offering it to me.
"Fire."
"Tsk."
What am I? A lighter?
I clicked my tongue at the blatantly obvious demand. If I’d known showing him I could make fire would get me treated like a lighter, I never would’ve done it.
Too late for regrets, I guess.
"This is the last time.”
"That’d be a problem."
If that really was his last cigarette, there shouldn’t be any problem at all. So he was lying after all.
I clicked my tongue again and summoned up some Arcane Power. Fwoosh. The tip of the cigarette caught fire.
"...That fire has Demonic Energy mixed into it. Doesn't that bother you?”
"It’s not like this is going to cause Demonic Erosion, so why should it?”
Maybe the only reason there weren’t any cases was because no one else had ever smoked a cigarette lit by Demonic flames before?
I still wasn’t all too sure about this.
Even though such thoughts were spinning inside my head, I didn’t bother saying any of them out loud. Meister wouldn’t have said that if he hadn’t already considered it. That was how much I trusted him, somewhere in the back of my mind.
"...You should cut back on smoking. It’s bad for your health.”
"And of course, the Temple guy has to nag me……”
Daniel did the same. Rather than comment on the fact that the cigarette had been lit with Demonic Energy, he focused on the smoking itself.
It was his way to show me consideration.
"So why is it a land full of lunatics?”
I gratefully accepted that consideration. I wasn't dangerous. I liked that he just assumed that as the standard.
"Well… explaining why is kind of complicated.”
Meister, who had been taking in smoke from the cigarette, furrowed his brows.
"The Great Demons that showed up in the north were Lust and Gluttony. Of course, the latter’s dead now, so Gluttony won’t be showing up anymore, but that’s not important right now.”
Meister asked me whether I knew how the Great Demon of Lust tormented the people, to which I shook my head.
"How does it do it?”
"It makes people doubt love. That Demon.”
"......?"
My brow furrowed at the somewhat abstract explanation. The people in the row before us, who had been pretending not to listen to our conversation, reacted the same way. Even the scattered chatter had completely died down, so apparently they were curious about what Meister meant as well.
"Be more specific.”
"How should I put this? Its followers place far more value on emotional pleasure than physical pleasure. So…they prefer relationships that last forever over ones where you meet for a day and then part ways.”
Anyway, what mattered was the explanation that followed. I tapped a finger against the edge of my saddle as I listened.
"...I’m not sure I understand you correctly. So you’re saying, those guys…want to date or something?”
"Exactly."
"…Why is that Lust? Dating isn’t…something that should fall under the category of sin, right……?”
"Usually it isn’t. But these people want to use love to make the other person blindly devoted to them.”
"Blindly……?”
"Look at history. How many people have gone mad with love and ended up doing things they never should have done?”
"...So that’s what you mean.”
"...That’s vile.”
"It is.”
You meet someone, form a connection, talk and get to know them, find yourself drawn to their charm in the process, and that eventually leads to a deeper relationship.
It resembled ordinary romance, which only made it crueler. An ordinary person had no way to distinguish love from a Demon’s trickery.
"That’s why northerners are wary of love. They rarely rely on others or give anyone their heart. You never know who might be a Demon worshiper after all.”
"Then…how do they get married?”
"It’s not like you can control your feelings just by being careful. If you reach the point where you really can’t suppress your feelings anymore, you first go to a priest.”
"A priest……?!”
"Priests are the best at figuring out whether someone’s a Demon or a human.”
"...Good God.”
Having an inquisition be a mandatory step before dating was quite horrifying in its own way, but now I understood what Meister meant when he called it a ‘land full of lunatics.’ Anyone would go insane if they had to live somewhere like that.
"Anyway, that’s why everyone there is a little screwed in the head. Villages farther from the front are off a little better, but in places in charge of the front itself, something tends to happen about once a month.”
"...That sounds even worse than what the priest told me.”
"Once you get used to it, it’s surprisingly bearable. Nothing much happens as long as you don’t get attached to anyone.”
"...How is that bearable?”
At Daniel’s words, Meister only shrugged. He didn’t look particularly pleased about it.
"Anyay, when you get north, don’t go handing out kindness carelessly. Don’t accept others' sweet words either, and never accept words meant to comfort you.”
"...Are you talking to me?”
"Who else here would I need to warn? Green-Ears over there isn't the type to say sweet things, the Archmage already knows what the north is like, and kind words don’t exactly come naturally to the Hero. And most importantly, nobody questions sweet words coming from a priest.”
I couldn't really deny that. The character I had been acting as might not need that advice, but things would be different once I dropped the act. Not that Meister knew that when he gave me the warning.
"Alright.”
Still, I took his warning to heart. Depending on where Berserk was, things might change, but one thing was certain. Sooner or later, we would part ways.
"Well. As long as I’m sticking by your side, it probably won’t turn into anything too serious, but you never know what might happen.”
"......?"
"If you run into some paranoid bastard, there’s a high chance even my word won’t be enough and they’ll start making a fuss.”
"Would anyone really do that with the Hero around?”
“I’m talking about after the Hero leaves.”
"......?"
"...What?"
"...No, well, you’re talking like you’ll still be with me even after the Hero leaves.”
"Where else would I be if not next to you?”
"......??"
Meister gave me a puzzled look at my words. I was just as puzzled. Our eyes met a couple of times before we finally figured out what the other was thinking.
"You’re not going to keep traveling with the Hero?”
"Why would I travel around with them? What would I even get out of it?”
"...You wouldn’t get anything out of traveling with me either.”
"What kind of bullshit is that? You promised you’d tell me about your world.”
“You’re going to follow me around just for that?”
"Just? Juuuust? Hey, do you think meeting someone from another world is some everyday occurrence? And what are the odds that that person doesn't treat us as enemies like a Demon would, is fluent in our language, and is intelligent enough to hold a conversation?”
"That’s…true. But couldn’t you just hear about it while we’re all traveling together?”
"How likely do you think it is that someone who’s lived in the east their entire life could learn Western culture in a single month?”
"...Right. I misspoke.”
Come to think of it, considering Meister’s combat ability, there was no real reason for him to stay with the Hero’s party. He wasn’t much help in hunting Demons, and he wasn’t the sort to obsess over Demon hunting either.
"What about you?”
So Meister was going to keep following me……
Thinking the journey probably wouldn’t be boring that way, I turned toward Daniel as well, just in case.
"Ah, I…think I’ll part ways with you after this, Sir.”
Daniel explained that he had originally only planned to accompany them until he found me, but given the circumstances, he had decided to stay with them a little longer.
"What happened at the Grand Temple doesn't seem like a reason for you to not return to your original post, though.”
"...Haha."
But he remained vague to the very end about what he really meant by ‘given the circumstances.’ Judging from how his gaze kept drifting toward the front row, it seems he had stayed because he was worried about the Inquisitor.
“Everyone, get ready! The Silent Invader is in sight!”
At that moment, the Archmage shouted loudly enough for even those of us in the back row to hear. The Silent Invader. That was the name of the first stop we had chosen.
"So that’s that famous mushroom forest. The one they say even Demons can’t approach……”
"Stop being amazed by it. Put on your mask, unless you want to experience what it’s like having mushrooms growing in your airways.”
Soon, a forest, capable of purifying Demonic Energy on its own, yet completely uninhabitable even for people because of the spores spreading around, came into view. A forest composed entirely of mushrooms.
* * *
"So you did come back after all.”
Wise Virgir was alive. It wasn’t as though a dead man could be standing with his arms spread wide to welcome her.
"But Great Warrior, who are those people behind you?”
"They were being held captive by the wizard.”
"Surely you don’t expect the tribe to take them in? Great Warrior, you must have seen it on your way here. This land has grown even more barren than when you left.”
"I know."
But whether he survived was none of her concern. The same went for those who had followed her as she escaped, chasing after her even across frozen ground on bare feet.
"If they live, they live. If they die, they die.”
This was as much as she could do for them. Berserk tossed the single fox she had caught on the way onto the ground. It was so skinny that there hardly seemed to be any meat on it.
"Oooh…”
"The Great Warrior brought food!”
And yet the people cheered over that alone, and even over something so small, they watched her every move carefully. Berserk felt a renewed sense of disillusionment. Her homeland was endlessly dying.
"Where are you going, Great Warrior?”
And so she started walking.
"To where my sister is buried.”
Haah. White breath rose toward the sky. Incense for her. For her sister.
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